Film Details

The Earrings of Madame De

Andrew Sarris, 1928-2012
France, Italy | 1953 | Max Ophüls

Andrew Sarris was the legendary film critic for The Village Voice and The New York Observer whose 1968 tome The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929-1968 has been called the most influential American film book of the 20th century. The work introduced France’s auteur theory to America. Sarris, who died in June at age 83, will be remembered on Friday night by Cleveland Institute of Art President Grafton Nunes, who knew him for many years as a teacher, colleague, and friend. After that, Sarris’ all-time favorite film will be shown. Madame de… is an elegant, sensuous, sophisticated drama of adultery set in fin de siècle Paris. A pair of earrings continually changes hands among a trio of privileged, high-society lovers (Danielle Darrieux, Charles Boyer, Vittorio De Sica) and the result is a dizzying roundelay of rapture and rupture. “Should the day ever come when movies are granted the same respect as the other arts, The Earrings of Madame de … will instantly be recognized as one of the most beautiful things ever created by human hands.” –Dave Kehr. Subtitles.